The New York City Halloween Parade
MISSION
STATEMENT
The Parade is a powerful event, for while it is happening, it animates all the senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, color and movement. The emotional response that it generates has a lasting effect on how the participants and those who either watch or hear about the event feel about the places and the people of New York.
Fleeting as it may seem, the Annual Village Halloween Parade provides a subconsciously experienced time structure that lends a sense of durability, continuity and community to New York City life.
HISTORY
Since 1973!
Started by Greenwich Village mask maker and puppeteer Ralph Lee in 1973, the Parade began as a walk from house to house in his neighborhood for his children and their friends.
After the second year of this local promenade, Theater for the New City stepped in and produced the event on a larger scale as part of their City in the Streets program. That year the Parade went through many more streets in Greenwich Village and attracted larger participation because of the involvement of the Theater.
After the third year, the Parade formed itself into a not-for-profit organization, discontinued its association with Theater for the New City and produced the Parade on its own.
Today the Parade is the largest celebration of its kind in the world and has been picked by Festivals International as “The Best Event in the World” for October 31.
At the 7th year, when the founder retired, Celebration Artist and Producer Jeanne Fleming, a long-time participant in the Parade took over the event and has directed it for 45 of its 52 years!
Why did she do it? Jeanne says “I loved the Parade—it’s creative energy, the people, the sounds, the diversity, the joy! That it says “YES” to everyone and encourages the creative in everyone. It speaks to the soul of NYC–it’s not political, ethnic or commercial like many Parades, but has at its heart a recognition of spirit. We preserved the tradition of Giant Puppetry. At first my friends Ania Aldrich and Gigi Alvare and I made all the puppets. Then followed many others, most notably Mac Arthur Genius Awardee, Basil Twist; theater artist Debby Lee Cohen; Sara Peattie and the Puppeteers Cooperative and ultimately those who make the puppets today, Alex Kahn and Sophia Michahelles of Processional Arts Workshop.” Jeanne also began working closely with the local Community Board, residents, merchants, schools, community centers and the Police to ensure a grass-roots, small “Village” aspect of the event, while at the same time preparing for its future growth.
Now, 52 years later, the Parade draws more than 80,000 costumed participants and spectators estimated at 2 million. Originally drawing only a postage stamp sized article in the New York Times, now the Parade is covered by all media—local, national and worldwide.
The Parade has won an Obie Award and been recognized by the Municipal Arts Society and Citylore for making a major contribution to the life and culture of New York City.
In 1993 the Parade was awarded a major NEA Grant for Lifetime Achievement and in 1993 and 1997—it’s 20th and 25th Anniversary Years— it was awarded Tourism Grants from both the Office of the Mayor of the City of New York and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in recognition of its economic and cultural contribution to New York City.
Additionally, the Parade has been the subject of many books, scholarly dissertations, independent films and documentaries due to its position as an authentic “cultural event.”
In 1994 and again in 2023 The Mayor of the City of New York issued a Proclamation honoring the Village Halloween Parade for 50 years of bringing everyone in the City together in a joyful and creative way and being a boon to the economic life of the City. The Proclamation concludes: “New York is the world’s capital of creativity and entertainment. The Village Halloween Parade presents the single greatest opportunity for all New Yorkers to exhibit their creativity in an event that is one-of-a-kind, unique and memorable every year. New Yorkers of all ages love Halloween, and this delightful event enables them to enjoy it every year and join in with their own special contributions. The Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village is a true cultural treasure.” In that same statement, the Mayor declared the week of October 24-31 to “HALLOWEEK in NYC in perpetuity.”
Perhaps our greatest honor came only 7 weeks after the tragic events of 9/11, when Mayor Rudolf Giuliani insisted that the Parade take place stating that it would be a healing event for New York. With the eyes of the world looking at us, we created a giant Phoenix puppet rising out of the ashes.Hundreds of millions of of viewers worldwide watched as the Parade provided tangible evidence that NYC was enduring, safe, surviving, and spirited in the face of great tragedy and hardship.
In 2005 we paid tribute to New Orleans and invited all Katrina evacuees to join us in a Funeral Procession Tribute to the stricken city. Over 8,000 evacuees showed up for the Parade and Benefit.
In 2010 the Parade commissioned Haitian Karnaval Artist Didier Civil to make traditional Haitian Carnival figures in a themed element entitled “Memento Mori!” in support of his efforts to rebuild the Art School in Jacmel, Haiti’s center for Carnival. Again, thousands of Haitians participated in the Parade to mourn and remember all those lost in the earthquake.
In 2012 Super Storm Sandy forced an unprecedented cancellation of the Parade, prompting us to call for public support to save the Parade after it suffered serious financial losses.
The 2013 Theme was Revival! Hallelujah Halloween! Bring Halloween Back to NYC! Thanks to a very successful Kickstarter Campaign the Parade was able to live on! Thank you to everyone who helped keep this great NYC tradition alive! In 2015 we re-staged the Parade for the opening scene of the Teenage Mutant Turtle Movie 2, released in June 2016.
In 2017, just hours after a terrorist attack, the Parade once again went on led by Gov. Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio, showing New Yorker’s resilience and celebration of life.
In 2020 the Parade was cancelled due to Covid 19 but in its stead we made a special video entitled The World Premiere First Ever Double Magnificent Intergalactic MINIATURE Halloween Parade that can be seen at HERE and projected GIANT PHOTOS of Parade participants on three buildings in Greenwich Village.
In 2021 the Parade was the first major NYC event after Covid restrictions were lifted!!!!
2023 was the 50th Anniversary! Now we are 52!
REFLECTIONS
This is an event that evokes the muses …
By NYU Professor Greg Steinbrenner
On some days in the City it is easy to imagine that the world, or rather this world, or rather this culture is in decline. There are holes in the street, there are holes in the fabric of society through which more and more people slip into the desolate world of margin and hunger. There are gaping holes in the moral fabric of those who are not marginalized in the material sense; they suffer instead a metaphysical desolation of moral ambiguity. On some days, sadly few, (and for that all the more precious) the City pauses in its rampage, and the people breathe and they grow and they rediscover dreams long stifled. Hope is not dead, nor are dreams and fantasies, that on most days in most people lie dormant. On Halloween the spirits walk and the human spirit talks loudly and clearly, and it all happens at around seven o’clock on 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village.
On this night on this street the rules of everyday are set aside. Rules about fitting in, about acting like everyone else to avoid sticking out, rules about assimilation. The margins and center are somehow connected. I see people giving expression to the creative life-affirming parts of their soul. The old women in the Kazoo Band are standing in front of a group of men in G-strings with web headdresses. They will both march up 6th Avenue. What a glorious sight, if only for a moment to share in the rushing splendor of self exhibition! In the pulsating confusion, I am caught up in the spirit of human possibility. Walls are down tonight for the marchers, revealing an indescribably beautiful, powerful, scary realm of diversity. Marchers come in groups—cultural revelers— the group of giddy yuppies dressed as the hundred and one dalmations join forces with 101 other dalmations fleeing a Cruella DeVille of questionable gender.
This pageant evokes the muses. It explodes in a forest of colors and a sea of smiles onto blocks of dazzled onlookers. The New Yorkers lining the streets are doused in a living waterfall of freedom. The pageant is liberation for lifestyles, cultures, and individuals who are given the chance for one night to show themselves as they wish to be seen.
As a cultural anthropologist, my eyes are trained to observe and comment accurately on everything I see, to theorize about anthropological motivations and interpretations of the pageant. Tonight instead I am left with a mood, a feeling, an amazing possibility. In this dark city, in these wearying times, we are still capable of moments of “ecstatic freedom.” And it was not happening on television or on a movie screen, or in my apocalyptic imagination—it was happening in 6th Avenue, right under my nose, in my ears, and in front of my very eyes. Yes, for a moment, I believed that the people around me were really alive.
This piece appeared in the NYU Performance Studies Journal and was written by NYU Professor Greg Steinbrenner. Reprinted by permission of the author.
CREDITS
STAFF
- Artistic and Producing Director: Jeanne Fleming
- Assistants to the Director: Sarah Bissonnette-Adler and Grace Schultz
- Volunteer Coordinator: Grace Schultz
- Puppet Designers: Alex Kahn & Sophia Michahelles, Processional Arts Workshop
- Special Projects: Peter Criswell
- Special Projects: Martha Tobias
- Webmasters Extraordinaire: Elena Erber and Matthew Fass
- Social Media: Grace Schultz and Tom Bloxham
- Wondrous Marshalls: Head Marshal: David Studinski and then Mike Dunlap, Mark Schuyler, Tish Flynn, Eric White, Kahlil Goodwin, Brian Sullivan, Mark Bavoso, David Bishop, Mari Marimoto, Gail Brunje, Sayda Garcia, Glen Blacks and Stuart White.
- Creative Directors of Culinary Affairs: Johanna and Jessica Bard
- Music Director: Matthew Fass
- Master Puppeteer: Basil Twist
- Master of Television Ceremonies: Peter Rosegarten
- Public Relations: RubensteinPR
- Party Girl and Float Coordinator: Jen Gapay
- Director of Government Affairs: Bradford Gonzalez-Sussman
- Tee Shirt and Poster Design: Sarah Bissonette-Adler
- VHP Logo Designer: Gigi Alvaré
- DJ, Video Editor, Television Liaison and Music Specialist: Jordan Matthews
- VIP Area Hosts: Samantha Strong and Jordan Matthews
FORMER STAFF
- Head Marshal: Steven Kurowski
- Associate Producer and End Marshall Extraordinaire: Lewis Siris
- Associate Producer: Natasha Brooks-Sperduti
- Field Marshal: Mike Abegg
- Marshall in Command: Larry Nussbaum
- Volunteer Coordinator: Clara Ines Schuhmacher
- Puppet Design: Debby Lee Cohen
- Puppet Design: Gigi Alvaré and Ania Aldrich
- Pumpkin Queen Emeritus: Bronwen Rucker
- Associate Producer: Rick Russo)
